I haven't surrendered to my illness, I've just retreated. No general would continue when the battle is surely lost. A general would regroup, tend to the wounded, gather reinforcements, and re-strategize. And that's all I'm doing. I may have lost this battle, but there's still a war to win.

Instead of shrinking from the stigma of having bipolar disorder, I have embraced it. I don't know why I don't feel the stigma. But I just don't. But I want to be the voice for those who do feel the stigma and are silenced.

This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made headlines for its approval of another obesity drug. News outlets worked hard to translate the meaning of this story, but they left out something important: heads.

For years, I have worked with people with mental health issues and I have treated them with kindness and a great deal of respect. Why cannot I give myself the same respect? Why is it so hard to even talk about my limitations and issues?

Though my brother's death was a tragedy, it opened my eyes to a world I barely even knew existed. It allowed me to realize that below their outer shells every single person is fighting a battle that you know nothing about.

Depression is a real chemical imbalance in the brain. It's a condition shared by a large number of the population. It's treatable. The people living with depression are some of your favorite people. They are your friends and loved ones, and people you look up to and admire. They need and deserve compassion and understanding.

Think carefully the next time you are reading or writing an article about mental-health issues. Would the feelings and emotions the article evokes make you feel ashamed to be a victim, or inspired to believe in the solution?

I cannot even imagine what losing a child to drugs would be like. Lord knows I've thought about it a lot. For a while, I was terrified that it might happen to me. And I'd be lying if I said it's not something I still think about from time to time when I allow my mind to wander out of the moment.

Whose business is it, anyway? Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I want to experience child birth. Just because I am the youngest of eleven doesn't mean I want a bunch of kids. I love inspiring and teaching children. I don't want any of my own. And, I'm not alone.

We expect brilliant people such as Robin Williams to contribute to society well past their 60th birthdays. Yet the rest of us are more or less expected to retire, step aside, and draw benefits from the government for the rest of our lives. This neediness and dependency view is vastly out of touch with what we now know about aging.

The reason so many people don't get the treatment they need is simple: Mental illness and addiction are still shrouded in stigma. It's 2014, but people suffering from mental illness often times don't want to ask for professional help because they fear being labeled as "crazy" or a "whack job."

According to the CDC, only 25 percent of people who suffer from mental health symptoms feel that people are caring and sympathetic toward people struggling with mental illness. If so many people are battling these issues, why should they be a secret?

The stigma of mental illness is often believed to be that we don't talk about mental illness. The harsh reality is that people don't talk about their emotions period and a large percentage of people feel that mental illness isn't treatable. We need to have a clearer starting point and explanations of mental health for people to follow in order to find the help they need.

The recent tragedy of the wonderful Robin Williams has brought to light depression and anxiety in the most severe way and of course for those of us who have experienced losing someone to suicide it's a sharp reminder at how invisible mental illness really is.